Kareena says No to Gurinder Chadha again

By Subhash K. Jha

All the talk of an international career is just talk for Kareena. As far as she is concerned, she has no intentions of going international. Not even for Gurinder Chadha.

Apparently, Aishwarya Rai who did Gurinder's Bride & Prejudice and her husband Paul Berges's The Mistress Of Spices, won't work with her...not after Chadha apparently went around blaming Ash for the failure of her husband's film.

Gurinder has also shown keen interest in working with Rani Mukherjee. And of course Kareena who is not impressed. For the second time she has said no to the Bend It Like Beckham director.

Says a source, "Three years ago Gurinder wanted Kareena for Bride & Prejudice. Kareena naturally presumed it was the lead.

She was shocked to know the director actually wanted her for Aishwarya's youngest sister's part which finally went to Piya Rai Chowdhary. Kareena was shocked. She had turned down the author-backed central role in Deepa Mehta's Water. And here she was being offered the fourth lead. She vowed never to work with her again."

Now when the new Gurinder Chadha film was offered to Kareena, she quickly said no without hesitation.

Kareena admits this is the second time she has turned down Gurinder Chadha. "Who offers a role is not important. What is being offered is important.

I'm really not that enthused by the idea of going international unless it's something really big. I don't even know if Gurinder's offer was with Johnny Depp. I was just not interested."

Interestingly, all the 3 topnotch NRI filmmakers have had problems getting an Indian cast. Deepa Mehta's Water went through several casting changes. Mira Nair originally wanted Abhishek Bachchan and Rani Mukherjee for The Namesake. But Rani didn't want to play Abhishek's mother. And Gurinder is looking for an Indian heroine.

Kareena, for all practical purposes, is not interested in an international career. Neither are Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan and Hrithik Roshan. They've all said no to lucrative international offers.